Covid, Biden and Masks: Social Backlash Between Matteo Bassetti and Heather Parisi

Q&A between Matteo Bassetti and Heather Parisi. “When I saw US President Joe Biden board Air Force One yesterday without a mask, with Covid, the first thing that came to mind was that I believe it is very important that great men, even the most powerful in the world, know how to give good messages. If Biden has Covid he should have worn a mask when boarding the planebecause there were other people around, even if I understand that he is the president of the United States. But this is important because a signal must be sent: whoever has Covid or whoever has another respiratory infection must protect the people around them”, the infectious disease specialist highlights to Adnkronos Salute, commenting on the news of the positivity of the US head of state.

For the director of Infectious Diseases at the San Martino Polyclinic Hospital in Genoa, good example is crucial to send scientifically correct messages and avoid misunderstandings or exploitations that often run on social media. And on X the specialist had a virtual ‘back and forth’ on Biden’s case. Theme: the mask, precisely. Co-star: showgirl Heather Parisi who, accompanying the images of Biden boarding the plane, comments: “Biden said he had Covid but he boarded the plane without wearing a mask, neither he nor any of his staff. They will have finally been warned that only Burioni, Bassetti and Ben Affleck’s daughter are left to believe in masks?”. Bassetti’s reply: “Sometimes it is better to remain silent and appear stupid than to open your mouth and remove all doubt. Cit. Oscar Wilde”.

Social comments aside, Bassetti explains that “Biden was probably infected by the Kp3 variant. Why do I say this? Because many of the people who were around Biden, as we read in the news these days, had had Covid in the previous days, so he probably got infected with a very contagious variant”, which is precisely KP.3, the most widespread Covid variant in the States today. One of the messages to take away, for Bassetti, is therefore this: “If you have Covid, it’s fine for you to live your life as before. But wear a mask to protect others”.